


Crash Into Me

by rambunctiousragamuffin



Series: Lie in Our Graves [2]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: M/M, Secret Identity, Sexually-charged banter, mentions of past poe dameron/ben solo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2016-05-25
Packaged: 2018-06-10 15:05:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6961918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rambunctiousragamuffin/pseuds/rambunctiousragamuffin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was sheer coincidence that Poe had met General Hux here, in this cantina in the outer rim back before General Hux was General.</p><p>It was sheer coincidence, but how serendipitous.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crash Into Me

**Author's Note:**

> tks to molly for getting the plot bunnies bouncing around for this one.

It was a bar just like any other that he could have found on any other outer-rim planet. It was too dark and too smokey, and it was as good a place as any to grab a few drinks to celebrate his commissioning as Flight-Lieutenant, he supposed, even if there were other places he would rather be with other people. But he wasn’t there, he was here, trying to flag down the Twi’lek barkeeper to refill his Kashyyykan bitter berry beer. Poe had shot his patented winning smile at her when she turned to face his way, so he was understandably devastated when she passed him by and continued on to a red-haired human down on the end of the bar. He sighed and looked down at his almost-empty stein, swishing around the dregs.

Some celebration this was turning out to be. His squadmates--the ones who had convinced him to come out in the first place--had abandoned him not long after entering the bar and ordering their drinks. Poe espied one in a dark corner, necking at a… was that a Mon Calamari? Well, he certainly wasn’t one to judge. In a galaxy with creatures with tentacles and probisci and all manner of interesting appendages, a creature with a fishy head wasn’t all that peculiar. Still, it was kind of rude to have left him alone when they were supposed to be celebrating his commission.

Poe started when a mug was set down in front of him, perspiration from the cold glass leaving a little ring of condensation on the counter. It was another stein of bitter berry beer, but it wasn’t coming from the direction that it would have if the barkeeper had finally taken his order. No, it was coming from beside him, and when Poe looked up to see who it was that had set it down, he saw no-one other than the red-haired human. He looked different, up close. He had an aura of authoritativeness, of aplomb that disguised just how fragile and frail he actually was. 

“What’s a skinny little thing like you doing all the way out here?” Poe winced internally, his outward smile never dropping. Not one of his smoothest introductions, basically calling someone inept. If the red-haired human had the gumption to patronise this wretched hive of scum and villainy that was whatever waterhole this was, there was no way that he was as inept as Poe was implying.

But the redhead seemed to take Poe’s gaffe with good grace, raising an eyebrow in mocking amusement with a wry little turn to his lips.

“I buy you a drink, and you don’t even say ‘thank you.’ Didn’t they teach you manners on whatever backwater planet you come from?”

Oh. Right. He hadn’t actually thanked the redhead for the gift of booze.

“Thanks.”

The redhead just scoffed.

“No, but seriously. Thanks.” Poe offered his hand to the redhead in a placating gesture. “I’m Poe.”

Not the most inspired of introductions, but if the blush on the redhead’s pale cheeks was anything to go by, it was well-received. Or it could’ve just been the warmth in the cantina, who knows. Certainly not Poe.

“This is where you tell me your name. Or didn’t they teach you manners on whatever backwater planet you come from?”

“I… I’m Ben.” The redhead’s faltering answer disinclined Poe to believe him, but what the hell. No-one really ever expects someone to use their real name in a place like this.

“Ben, huh? I knew a Ben once.” Poe couldn’t help the small, sad smile that sprung up when he thought of Ben. But he quickly forced himself to stop thinking on the halcyon of a misspent youth and plastered a wider, faker smile on. He raised his stein in appreciation and gently toasted the thin delicate flute of whatever it was that Ben was drinking. “To Bens. It’s a good name. It suits you.”

They both took long pulls of their drinks and Poe took the opportunity to observe the way that Ben’s adam’s apple bounced in his throat with each swallow. It was such a dainty thing, Ben’s neck, and the skin was so pale. It would look delightful with some love-bites contrasted against it.

Neither of them said anything for a while, both just reclining against the bar in a tense, but not terse awkwardness. Not until they had both finished their rounds.

“Another?” Poe asked Ben.

“I suppose I could put up with your company for another round,” Ben replied. Though his words might have been cutting, there was an undercurrent of mischievousness that glinted in his eye, and Poe couldn’t help but respond in kind.

“If anyone’s doing the putting up, it’s definitely me.”

“But do you put out?”

Poe choked on his words as he was trying to talk to the barkeeper, but when he side-eyed Ben, Ben’s expression was absolutely serene. He cleared his throat and returned his attention to the Twi’lek, who was rolling her eyes at him.

“Sorry,” Poe mumbled, and passed her his credit chit.

When he received his new round, Poe took a small sip just to stall for time.

“That was… uh. That was rather forward of you.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” though Ben sounded anything but contrite. “I suppose you had expected me to ask you something asinine like whether or not you come here often.”

“Yeah, that was something more along the lines of what I was expecting, to be honest.”

 

“Well, I see no reason to not go for what I want.”

“And you want me?” It was a novel thought. He hadn’t had the time, nor the inclination for a while, and the thought of a warm, willing body beneath him was tantalising to the extreme.

“I thought that was implied.” 

Another silence followed, with Ben clearly appreciating Poe’s discomfiture. Poe tried to subtly glance around the cantina to see if he could find his squadmates, let them know that he was going to leave early because all he wanted to do in that moment was to hide away in embarrassment. Though… he could leave early for a different reason. He had come out to celebrate.

“Well? Do you?”

“What? Put out?”

Ben’s answering grin was not unkind, but it had a feral edge that sent shivers down his spine. Like there was something predatory to it, like Ben knew just how to go for his throat and wasn’t afraid to.

“No. Come here often?”

“No, uh. Not usually.” Was this bantering? It felt like bantering, but it had been so long since he had last bantered with someone new. Of course there was bantering that went on between him and his squadmates, but that was generally just taunting and catcalling. The kind of banter that you got between soldiers, between friends. “I’m celebrating.”

“What are you celebrating?”

“My commissioning as a lieutenant.”

Ben looked faintly impressed, and Poe couldn’t help but preen under the praise. He was the youngest flight-lieutenant to have been commissioned in the Resistance, in fact, but this world was a neutral planet and Poe didn’t want to vaunt the fact that he was in the Resistance.

“What about you?”

“Do I put out?”

“No--” Poe blushed and looked down at his almost-full stein. He took a sip, and licked the foam off of his lips, chasing the taste of bitter berries with his tongue. “Do you come here often?”

“I don’t tend to frequent these establishments often, no.”

“You just tend to pick up strangers often, then?”

“I prefer to think of it as a… business transaction, of sorts.”

“Oh. Judging by your posture, I would have pegged you for a military man.”

“I most assuredly am. I simply meant that it is a business transaction along the lines of you having something I want, and I’m willing to give you something for it in return.”

The sip that Poe was taking seemed to slow its descent down his throat as Ben leaned in close enough for Poe to be able to see little flecks of green in the blue of his irises.

“As we have established, I want you.”

“And… what are you willing to give me?” Poe’s voice came out meeker than he had wanted it to, but being this close to each-other meant that Poe didn’t really need to raise his voice for his word to carry.

“The fucking that you want.”


End file.
